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Rocket21, the only social networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe, today announced the winners of the company’s latest Dream Big Competition, in collaboration with Nat Geo WILD’s popular series, Fish Tank Kings.

My experience with the Fish Tank Kings is one I will remember for a lifetime," said Tommy Whiteley. "It was amazing to be shown the whole process to create an aquarium, by the Fish Tank Kings themselves!

San Francisco, CA and Washington, D.C. (PRWEB)November 02, 2013

Rocket21, the only social networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe, today announced the winners of the company’s latest Dream Big Competition, in collaboration with Nat Geo WILD’s popular series, Fish Tank Kings.

Nat Geo WILD’s popular series Fish Tank Kings (Returns Spring 2014 to Nat Geo WILD) takes viewers to the center of the action as the Florida-based aquarium specialists at Living Color use their unparalleled skills, creativity and teamwork to pull off the most extreme tanks. For the past several months, the Fish Tank Kings gang has been sharing their aquatic knowledge and design experience directly with kids through Living Color President Mat Roy, an official PRO on Rocket21.

To celebrate the Fish Tank Kings’ participation, Rocket21 invited members to share their ideas and designs for extreme aquarium projects. From aquarium theme parks to aquarium skateboard ramps to aquarium furniture and vehicles, Rocket21 members from 9-17 submitted a diverse range of innovative designs.

Three of the designs were selected for Grand Prizes and Special Recognition, earning their creators a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a private tour of Living Color Enterprises hosted by The Fish Tank Kings, lunch next to a 14,000 gallon Fish Tank Kings' Aquarium at the Rainforest Café, and a nighttime boat tour of the Everglades to learn about its unique wildlife and habitats.

The competition was intense, as acknowledged by Living Color President Mat Roy. Said Roy, “The depth of knowledge, curiosity, and innovative 'design thinking' demonstrated by Rocket21 members and their contest entries was inspiring to our entire team. We had an extraordinary day with Cori, Tommy and Benjamin – and we look forward to engaging with even more young aquarists on Rocket21.”

For the 13-17 Category, 14 year old Tommy Whiteley, a 9th grader at Fairfield Country Day School in Fairfield, Connecticut, was selected for his creative idea to build a planetarium-style aquarium. Whiteley’s design featured bioluminescent creatures presented in a pitch black viewing dome to make the world’s deep ocean ecosystems accessible to the general public. After the trip, Tommy offered, “My experience with the Fish Tank Kings is one I will remember for a lifetime. Not only was it amazing to see the process used to create a tank, but to be shown the whole process by the Fish Tank Kings themselves was absolutely incredible!“ For more about Whiteley’s Planetarium Aquarium, click this link: http://www.rocket21.com/Nat_Geo_Wild_Fish_Tank_Kings_Winning_Content.

In the Under 13 Group, Grand Prize recognition went to Cori McWilliams, a 4th grader at Liberty Magnet Elementary School in Vero Beach, Florida, for her “Welcome To Florida” aquarium design.

Rocket21 awarded a Special Recognition Award to Benjamin Woodard, 5th grader at Lee Woodard Elementary School in Lucama, North Carolina, to acknowledge his poignant design for a 911 Memorial Aquarium.

About Nat Geo WILD
For more than 30 years, National Geographic has been the leader in wildlife programming. The networks Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo WILD HD, launched in 2010, offer intimate encounters with nature’s ferocious fighters and gentle creatures of land, sea and air that draw upon the cutting-edge work of the many explorers, filmmakers and scientists of the National Geographic Society. Part of the National Geographic Channels US, based in Washington, D.C., the networks are a joint venture between National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks. In 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) debuted, and 10 years later, Spanish-language network Nat Geo Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation’s major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with Nat Geo WILD currently available in 56 million U.S. homes. Globally, Nat Geo WILD is available in more than 100 million homes in 90 countries and 28 languages. For more information, visit http://www.natgeowild.com.

About Rocket21
Rocket21 is the only social networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe. Rocket21 provides unprecedented access to world-class experts and organizations while protecting them with a combination of state-of-the-art, real-time filtering and human moderation, extensive safety and security precautions, and a specialized infrastructure designed to keep kids safe.

Like Rocket21 on Facebook and follow @Rocket21 on Twitter. For more information contact Media Relations at media(at)rocket21(dot)com.